Heat treating apparatus



March 29, E A

HEAT TREATING APPARATUS Filed Feb. 24 1931 Edward flzazje ATTORNEY;

Patented Mar. 29, 1932 UNITED STATES EDWARD .A-IIANGE, 01 BLUE ISLAND, ILLINOIS HEAT TREATING APPARATUS Applloatlon flled February 24, 1931. Serial No. 517,991.

This invention relates to ,certain novel im provementsin heat treating apparatus, and has for its principal object the provision of an improved construction ofthis character 5 which will be highly efficient in use and economical in manufacture.

It is among the objects of this invention to provide an improved track and shoes movable thereover for carrying metal objects through a heat treating furnace.

Another object of the invention is to provide an improved track and shoes movable thereover in such a manner that the shoes will not slide or be forced off the track as objects are carried by the shoes, through a heat treating furnace.

An additional object of the invention is to provide an improved track and shoes of the character described herein and to overcome the difficulty now experienced in heat treating furnaces of the type with which the invention is associated, namely the buckling of the shoes and consequent tumbling of the crank shafts or other objects into the bed of 5 the furnace.

A further object of the invention is to provide an improved track comprising rails upon which the object carrying shoes are mounted, and to arrange these rails so that the shoes may be moved onto and off the rails but will be prevented from falling off the rails during the time the objects are passing through the furnace, thereby preventing the objects from falling into the bed of the furnace.

Other objects will appear hereinafter.

The invention consists in the novel combination and arrangement of parts to be hereinafter described and claimed. The invention will be best understood by reference to the accompanying drawings,

showing the preferred form of construction and in which:-

Fig. 1 1s a longitudinal sectional view of a heat treating furnace depicting my invention in association therewith;

Fig. 2 is a drausvcrse verti al sectional view on the line 2-2 in Fig, 1; 50 Fig. 3 is a perspective view of the improved shoe provided by this invention; and

.14, the pits 14 opening by way of passage 18 (Fig. 2) to the chamber 19 above the bed 15. ()n the bed 15 are sleepers 20 over which my improved rails generically indicated at 21 extend, being secured in position by bolt and nut structures 22 associated with openings 23 in the bottom flanges 24 of each rail. An entrance opening 25 is provided in the end wall 12 and an exit opening 26 is provided in the end wall 11.

Provided adjacent the entrance 25 of the furnace is a housing 27 from which project upwardly two pusher bars 28 in the upper ends of each of which are'provided a jaw 29 and an upwardly extending lug 30 (Fig. 1). Resting upon the jaws 29 and abutting the lugsi-BO is a. bar 31. In the housing 27 means, familiar in the art and of any approved construction, are provided for moving the pushor bars 28 through slots formed in the'upper wall of the housing 27, and from the end 32 of the housing toward the entrance 25 to the furnace. The means in the housing 27 include escapement means for returning the pusher bars 28 to the dotted line position of Fig. 1 upon completion of each pushing op-' eration.

.Indicated at 33 (Fig. 3) is a shoe which has formed at each end, on its upper surface, 90 an upwardly extending boss or ridge 34. Depending from the bottom of the shoe at each side thereof is a'substantially L-shaped flange 35 which includes a rightangularly extending portion 36 so that a channel 37 is provided in the shoe for the reception of the top flange 38 of the rail 21, the shoes 33 being slidable upon the rails 21.

In that part of the rails 21 that is disposed outwardly of the entrance 25 of the furnace,

the-flange 38 is narrowed as at 39 (Fig. 4), to facilitate sliding the shoes 33 onto the rails 21. The rail sections 21 are joined by tongue and groove joints 40 and extending through the outlet 26 of the furnace are rail sections 210. each of which has.a flange 39a, similar to the flange 39 except that these sections 21a are curved longitudinally as best shown in Fig. I, for-reasons to be made apparent presently.

. In use, the shoes 33 are slid onto the narrow flanges 39, at the left as seen in Fig. 1. The objects to be heat treated in the furnace, such for example, as crank shafts 41 (Fig. 1) are then extended between aligned pairs of shoes and are prevented from rolling therefrom by the bosses 34. As each pair of aligned shoes 33 is placed on the two rails, the pusher bars are moved to the right (Fig. 1) and these pusher bars move the bar 31 into engagement with corresponding bosses 34.- thereby pushing the shoes 33 and object 41 toward the furnace entrance it being understood that the pusher bars are operated and reciprocated back and forth by means approved in the art and disposed in housing 27. As each object 41 is moved forward on its supporting shoes 33,

" a seeondpair of shoes is slid onto the narrow flange 39 and the pusher bars 28 being, at this time in dotted line position of Fig. 1, will move the bar 31 into engagement with the rearmost pair of shoes and thus push each pair of shoes and the objects carried thereby Into and through the furnace, at a predetermined rate of speed, the objects 41 being thus heat treated.

The shoes 33 thus gradually move into the downwardly extending rails 21a and slide therefrom onto a table and are placed on a conveyer or otherwise handled so as to be returned to the starting point (left end of Fig. 1), while the objects 41 will thus be dumped ofl the ends of the rail sections 210: and handled in a manner well understood in the art. Openings 42 are provided in the shoes 33 to facilitate hanging said shoes on hooks on a conveyor for return to the starting point of the operation.

It is-to be noted that the flange portions 36 of the shoes prevent the shoes from falling off the flanges 38 and this is particularly important since the several pairs of shoes on each rail are apt to become jammed and buckle up thereb dumping the objects 41 into the furnace from which they must then be fished out by hand with the expenditure of time and labor.

My improvement over the prior art lies in the provision of the flange portions 36 on the shoes 33 and the construction of the rails, and the provision of the flange 38 on the rails, the narrow flanges 39 and 39a and the downwardly curved rail sections 21a, the other structures hereinbefore described being of any type known in the art. Likewise included in While I have illustrated and described the I preferred form of construction for carrying my invention into effect, this is capable of variation and modification, without departing from the spirit of the invention. I, therefore, do not wish to be limited to the precise details of constructionset forth, but desire to avail myself of such variations and modifications as come within the scope of the appended claims.

Having thus described my invention what I claim as new and desire to protect by Letters Patent is 1. In heat treating apparatus including a furnace, a track structure extended therethrough, a starting point and an end disposed exteriorly of the furnace, rails for said track structure each including top flanges, shoes slidable upon the rails and each ofthe shoes including flanges forming a channel for the reception of said top flanges, and each of the rails disposed adajacent the starting point having its top flanges narrower than said flanges are in the main extent thereof to facilitate slidable insertion thereon of the shoes for carrying objects through. the furnace.

2. In heat treating apparatus including a furnace having an exit and a track structure including rails extended through the furnace, rails extended through the exit and having a downwardly extending curvature, top flanges on the rails. shoes slidable on the rails and each of the shoes including flanges forming a channel for the reception of said top flanges and the flanges on the curved portions of the second-named rails being narrower than the corresponding flange on the rails in the furnace to permit said shoes to slide freely 1 from said curved portions.

In testimony whereof I aflix my si EDWARD A. LA

ature. 

